[1995-09-17-WCW-Fall Brawl] Brian Pillman vs Johnny B. Badd

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Gregor]

Okay, they go into overtime because they need a challenger for the U.S. Title. If the board of directors (or whoever) knew that they needed a winner, then why would they give the match a time limit to begin with?

 

Was this really a joke on Pillman? That just seems crazy considering how good this was.

[El-P]

So, does anyone still thinks Mero was no good after watching this ? I mean, really... Superb match, great performance by Pillman, and Mero more than held his own.

[Loss]

Really good match, with things fans in 1995 just weren't used to seeing in WCW -- kicking out of finishers, all the nearfalls, etc. It's good that they did this match in front of a North Carolina crowd which tends to pop for good wrestling even if the guys doing it aren't fully established. This match suffers a little bit in the context of a global yearbook because while it's extremely well laid out, they aren't really laying their shots in, so it looks like they're working too soft. I'm not trying to argue that as a strike against this match, just saying that's how it looks when watched next to stuff from Japan. Also, and this is a point I will make against the match, it's lacking aggression. It's exciting and again, well laid out, but nothing really looks like it hurts. Again, I may just be noticing that more because of what I'm watching around it. On a U.S. only yearbook, it would look really good, and on a WCW yearbook, it would look phenomenal. So give these guys credit for raising the bar in WCW, if only for one night. But when you watch everything else happening around the world, it's a little sobering for those of us who love this match. Part of it is also crappy WCW acoustics -- the in-ring sounds like the slapping of the mat from the referee and the impact of moves isn't nearly as loud as it should be.

 

But give Pillman, who was past his peak by this point, credit for walking Badd through a near-30 minute match where he gets to do all of his big moves where they're spaced out in a way to make them all mean something. And give Pillman credit for going full on heel when he senses that's what the crowd wants. I always thought he may have been more heelish in this match than he was supposed to be, if only because they wanted his aligning with Arn later in the night to have a bigger impact. Badd more than held his own, and I agree with El-P that this makes the case for him being better than he got credit for, but Pillman is the glue.

[jdw]

Yeah, I think Mero in here is a Good Sting or Good Kerry where he knows his stuff, has some cool stuff, and the fans like his cool stuff... but couldn't have laid out this match if his life depended on it. Like a high end Kerry or Sting match, he hold up his end, does his own stuff well, but that other guy is the glue holding it together. This always struck me as Pillman's masterpiece, an example of what he could have been in an earlier era of say the 80s.

 

John

[Tim Evans]

This was pretty good. After watching all of 96 WCW SN, I became a big fan of Mero. Especially after his DDP feud when DDP wasn't so good. Heenan and Tony's commentary was awful during this though.

[El-P]

Fuck me, the work after the restart was really terrific. Pillman was the glue, but Mero was game as all hell. I still love this match.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Brian Pillman vs Johnny B. Badd - Fall Brawl '95

 

Pillman's "Blonds Have More Fun" is an excellent slab of pop metal. Nice to see pop metal still had home somewhere in 1995. Before the match, the crowd is already firmly behind Johnny B. Badd. The winner of this match receives a mandatory US Title shot against then holder, Sting.

 

In this snippet of Pillman's career, he was not often paired with someone he had to carry. unfortunately, I did not have access to his GAB '95 match as a comparison point. Both were ostensibly face vs. face matches against an carryable opponent where Pillman chose to play the heel in that match. You can tell how much Pillman hated being a face at this point in his career. The first 5 or minutes are filled with lackadaisical, slow-motion hold work. They do the obligatory dropkick each other at the same time. One of my pet peeves in wrestling is when a wrestler just drops a hold for no reason and that happens more than once in this portion. Business picks up with a Billy Robinson backbreaker into a Boston Crab by Pillman. He lets go to punch Badd with a closed fist and Pillman starts to jaw with the fans and the camera. I was pretty underwhelmed with the match until that point. Badd hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Shoving exchange is won by Badd, which gets a nice pop. Pillman backs him into a corner and hits a hard reverse elbow. Pillman goes full-on heel at this point taking the walk up the aisleway, the facetious handshake and biting Badd. They have a sick collision on a double Thesz Press attempt, where was this fire earlier. At this point, it just turns into a bombfest, which is so strange for 1995 WCW and I was totally caught off guard. I enjoyed it a lot. Badd had a lot more aerial moves in his arsenal than "Flyin'" Brian. I always felt that was a misnomer that got him pigeon holed in places he did not belong when he should be having violent brawls because watching the footage he was so well-suited for that. Badd hits a powerbomb and Pillman hits a tombstone piledriver. Are we in the Budokan? They trade finishers (Tutti Frutti & Air Pillman) as the time limit expires. Nick Patrick says there must be a winner so we go to sudden death! Heenan wonders when he is going to get a chance to shave, which I thought was hilarious. Pillman chops the fuck outta Badd on the outside. YES! That's the Pillman I want! Badd counters a Pillman missile dropkick with a dropkick a callback to Pillman's counter-dropkick spot. They trade sleepers. Misawa counters Kawada's powerbomb with a headscissors takeover. I am sorry, I meant Pillman counters Badd's powerbomb with a headscissors takeover. I find a out a Badd Day is a Top Rope Frankensteiner and Pillman takes a great bump for it. He follows up that bump with always sick-looking railing bump. I find out a Badd Mood is a crazy somersault plancha. Lets Go Badd! I might have to explore him further. Badd does a reverse slingshot splash and eats knees. Pillman looking to prove why he is "Flyin Brian" and keep up The Badd Man whiffs pretty bad on a suicide dive. In his defense, Badd should have closer and to add to the complexity the stairs where right up against the apron there so he had to clear that too. At 30 minutes into the match, they fuckin sprint against the ropes and collide mid-ring with Badd falling on top for the win.

 

Pillman-san and Badd-san had quite the match that night that hitherto was rarely seen in America. Unfortunately, this style was copied and stripped down missing the transitions to hold together the big spots. Yes, the beginning of the match was lackluster, but once Pillman effectively turns heel it gets a lot better. I wish Pillman had a better transition to turning heel rather just kind of just snapping his fingers and saying I am going to heel it up. To that point, Pillman bumps like a heel, but does offense like a babyface, which I feel hurts how the middle of the match connects to the amazing finish. It is a very disjointed match, which I hate rating. The beginning was some of the lamest face vs. face wrestling you'll ever see. The middle was an interesting period where Pillman was heeling it up and Badd was playing the hero well in their mini-battles. Then finish they just go balls to the walls and Pillman stops cheating and heeling. There is no glue. Within the finish stretch, the transitions are great and they have plenty of callback psychology. I just can't fit the three portions of the match together. I hate rating matches like this. What I have found interesting about this match is a lot people just throw out **** and don't say why it falls shy of ***** (not this group, but those who review for other sites). The finish stretch, which is incredibly long for an American match, is friggin' good that I will agree with the consensus and give it ****. I am trying to do star ratings to keep everything straight for future lists and projects.

-----------------------------------------

 

Loss, I agree with you to extent, but I think I may disagree with some modifiers. It was not that it was un-physical to me. It felt like they were in slow-motion for the longest time. That was actually some pretty poor wrestling at the beginning. They were getting up and out of holds at will. I agree Pillman goes heel in the middle, but he totally departs from that for his big Japanese finish stretch. It is a weird match. I am not surprised it has a big rep based on the incredible home stretch both in length and quality, but at same time I don't feel like it is a classic. To me it is a really interesting experiment.

[PeteF3]

Slow-paced match for the most part, and I tend to agree with Sleeze that some of the submissions looked out of place. Schiavone and Heenan were both pretty good for this, but this could have used somebody who could get over the holds, not that that person existed in North America at this time. The closing stretch is good, with a clever near-fall off the Tutti Frutti punch that leads to the Air Pillman, but neither guy can put the other away in regulation. Then the re-start, and this is where this match earns its rep. Total Japan-style layout with bombs all over the place and near-falls. It helps that both guys have multiple finishers at this point that can be bought as near-falls. (Despite Schiavone's amazement at seeing it, Pillman was actually using the Octagon Special to win squashes at this point.) I don't know if I agree about this lacking aggression--no, they don't lay things in as heavily as in Japan, but Pillman in particular works very aggressively and heelishly, and eventually Badd fights back with the awesome slam off the turnbuckle into the guardrail. I also loved the velocity of the final closing stretch, with how aggressively they were hitting the ropes and launching into each other for the finish. Pillman was very clearly holding this together, but Badd's big moves looked great. Maybe the last great match of Pillman's career, and definitely the high watermark for Mero.

[JKWebb]

Yeah, the beginning of this match is pretty sloppy. The commentators hint Pillman is a little different now because he isn't smiling and isn't high-fiving and conversing with fans on his way to the ring. The Boston Crab Pillman puts on Badd looks pretty awful, and he lets it go for no reason. Badd even looks a little surprised. Tony sells it that he just wants to punch Badd in the face, I guess I can buy it if they are trying push him more as a heel, but it doesn't really make any sense. The fans do start to boo Pillman after that, so I guess it worked. The match still has some sloppiness to it, but Pillman is effective with the heel persona, and the story of the match starts to suck you in. Badd gets some nice hope spots in, and Pillman cuts him off each time. I hate the name of the Tutti Frutti, but it looked great here. I'm glad Patrick gets authorization for sudden death, because the match needed more time. Now I'm feeling it... we're getting some stiff strikes and some emotion. Badd gets a little hyper coming out of submissions. It almost seems out of nowhere. Most of the time you see someone catch their arm from falling prior to the three count, then they start to build the power out, and then there is the fiery come back. Both times in this match, he just starts having spasms immediately at the three count and gets out of the hold, but it doesn't really go anywhere. It's almost like going into convulsions is enough to get you out of a sleeper hold. Badd's offense does look explosive. I liked him tossing Pillman onto the guardrail with an awesome attack tot he outside. I loved Pillman cutting him off with knees and taking over. Crazy dive from Pillman to the outside onto Badd. Pillman going for the kick off the top and Badd dodging causing Pillman to the ropes was pretty sweet. I'm not sure I've ever seen that done exactly that way, but it was a cool spot. They do collide mid-ring, but it looked like to me Pillman fell on top then Badd rolled himself on top.

 

I think Pillman does deliver a pretty solid heel performance here, but I guess I just don't see this as a great match. I liked it, but didn't love it.

 

#427 - placetobenation.com/countdown-top-500-matches-of-the-90s-450-401/

[Mrzfn]

This is a pretty excellent match, but I'm a little surprised how many say it is the clear high point for Mero. I don't really see this above some of his work with Regal and Arn from the previous year. Longer, but not really better in my eyes.

[Zenjo]

It got off to a bit of a rough start and would go on to have other problems. Yet this was ultimately a rewarding experience and well worth seeing through.

 

The dynamic was face vs face and naturally begun in a technical manner. After a while Pillman became more heelish and tempers flared. This aspect was particularly well done over time. At nearly half an hour it was a long 'un and some of the resets into rest holds were jarring. The pacing was generally quick-slow-quick. Initially they went to a 20m draw but the match must continue! Which makes it pointless having a time limit in the first place. The stretch featured some excellent 2.9ers, as good as you'll see from a WCW match. The overtime period did need to be a whole lot tighter though. Unwieldy and inconsistent, I'll take the highs.